On March 11, 2025, the new National Democratic Congress (NDC) government presented its first budget statement, outlining its policy priorities and objectives for the next four years. As pointed out in IFS’ pre-budget paper, “What Should Be the Priorities of the New Government as It Confronts the Ongoing Economic Difficulties?”, the budget was presented against the backdrop of fiscal and macroeconomic difficulties Ghana is currently grappling with. These include debt challenges, high inflation, high exchange rate instability, and low growth. In his budget speech to Parliament, Minister of Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson acknowledged the economic difficulties and pledged to […]

When the government presented the 2025 mid-year fiscal policy review on July 24, it had much to celebrate from the macroeconomic perspective. Real GDP growth, inflation, and the cedi exchange rate had seen significant improvements. Ghana’s external account position had also improved considerably. For the most part, information on these macroeconomic developments was well known before the government presented the mid-year review. In contrast, much less was known about the nature of the execution of the 2025 budget during the first half of the year, especially as the budget had introduced many new policy initiatives. Therefore, the Institute for Fiscal […]